Committee approves changes to procurement code to clarify cooperative purchasing; forwards ordinance language to County Board

The Marathon County Human Resources, Finance & Property Committee voted to accept revisions to Chapter 3 of the county ordinances that clarify cooperative purchasing procedures and how those purchases integrate with existing small-purchase and public-works bidding rules.

Corporation Counsel Jamie explained the changes would explicitly allow county purchasing agents to join and use cooperative purchasing consortia designed and administered for public entities, while requiring committee approval to participate in consortia not designed for public agencies. The draft also adds language that treats the lowest available price from a single cooperative purchasing entity as one quotation or one sealed bid for the purposes of the code’s small-purchase and solicitation thresholds. The revisions add a new public-works subsection that mirrors Wisconsin Statute 66.0901 bidding rules for public construction projects over $25,000.

Jamie told the committee the goal was to give staff clearer guidance about when cooperative purchasing is permissible and how those consortium prices should be treated alongside other solicitations. "When utilizing cooperative purchasing, the lowest available price through a single distinct cooperative purchasing entity may be considered as 1 quotation for the purposes of this section," Jamie said, reading the proposed language.

Committee members discussed whether the ordinance should define ‘‘consortium’’ but generally accepted the working definition in the draft. Vice Chair Marshall and others noted the change restores flexibility that had previously been constrained by a past requirement to seek committee approval for each new cooperative purchasing entity.

Supervisor Leimer moved to accept the revisions to Chapter 3 and forward them to the County Board; Vice Chair Marshall seconded. The committee approved the motion and forwarded the proposed ordinance language for County Board action.

The draft also adds reporting and coordination steps for leases and lease-with-option contracts, requiring that leases be reported to the finance director and corporation counsel upon execution and that purchasing agents consult the finance director before entering lease-option agreements. Jamie said that change is meant to improve interdepartmental communication and ensure leases are captured for audits and risk management.

The ordinance language also explicitly references Wisconsin Stat. § 66.0901 for public-works bidding to avoid confusion when procurements exceed the public-works threshold.

The committee’s approval sends the redlined ordinance language to the County Board for final adoption and leaves open minor drafting refinements, including whether to add a formal definition of "consortium."